Risk
by Hypersonic Angel
Summary: Casey and Derek are slowly moving toward each other, pushed together by feelings they didn't know they had. It's confusing them and neither of them are willing to give. They'll have to risk it all to be together...but can they? Rating may go up later.


Warning: This IS a Dasey and since I enjoy these kinds of stories, there will be mature themes. Not necessarily sexual themes, although it's obviously going to get a bit steamy with these two, but I would advice you not to read if you can't handle strong emotions and such. Also, you might not want to read if you have a problem with this pairing or with strong language in content. Don't say I didn't warn you. You will not find this in any other chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek. I do, however, own this story and anything that is even remotely original. Do not steal or reproduce any of it or my virtual size seven will be in a very awkward position involving a part of your anatomy. Just don't do it. 'Kay? Kay.

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**Risk: Chapter One**

"_Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth." _

_-Katherine Mansfield_

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_Ugh, focus Casey. _The frustrated brunette shoved her hand through her hair angrily, noticing that her hair had once again fallen out of the messy bun she'd hurriedly shoved it into. She honestly couldn't remember when it had happened, but it was just another bad checkmark she was now able to confidently put on the day without feeling a single ounce of remorse whatsoever. Usually, the mere fact that her hair was not doing what she wanted it to and staying in place would've had her panicking and nearly ripping her own hair out in an effort to make it stay flat in a perfect ponytail high up on the back of her head but she figured that paled in comparison to the current problem she was facing: she couldn't seem to get this routine right.

While she knew that the routine wasn't something that was significantly important in her life since she'd made it up on her own and hardly needed it to get on with her life, she was going to get it right, even if it killed her. She'd been at it for hours, focused on the finished project that she could see clearly in her mind. Sure the routine was a bit risqué and on a different level than she was used to, but it was unique and it was challenging. Casey always did love a good challenge, which explained why she was forcing herself to go through position after position, doing things with her body that she hadn't even been aware she was capable of doing. Yes, she knew that she was more flexible than most people but sometimes she even surprised herself with the things she could do with herself. The routine had been just the thing that she needed to convince herself that she was indeed considerably talented in dance and she'd worked hard on perfectly it for nearly a week but she just couldn't get this one move down and it was crucial that she did. Because even though it was by far the most difficult and awkward part of the whole thing, it made it whole, made it look like it was a true performance and not just some mess of a routine that an amateur slapped down in an hour. And so it was that Casey had been working for the past few hours on that one move alone and she could feel her patience slowly slipping and her frustration was clearly obstruction her concentration because suddenly, the slightest movements threw her completely off and caused her to restart the sequence right from the beginning.

"Maybe if you hadn't eaten that extra salad yesterday you'd be able to get your body to turn the right way, Spacey," a voice suddenly broke through the air, cutting the frustrated tension like a knife and causing her to unwillingly flinch and then a grimace slowly spread across her face. She knew that voice; of course she did, she had to live with hearing that voice about a thousand times a day. Which, for the record, was a thousand times more than she needed and wanted to hear. Derek Venturi, her step brother, leaned up against her doorway arms and legs crossed and looking perfectly at ease with himself and amused by her, the trademark "Derek-smirk" on his face.

Derek and Casey had an unusual relationship, to say the least. The both of them claimed to dislike the other immensely. They got on well enough from time to time, so they couldn't claim to downright hate the other. Although Casey wasn't entirely sure about it, she thought it was their arguments that kept them from stepping over the line they toed between true archenemies and simple sparring partners. Their fights were famous across the town, varying from loud verbal arguments to short bouts of physical violence that always guaranteed amusement to any bystanders, although by now nearly everyone was used to it and had tired of it after the first twenty or so times. They never tired of it, though. Everything they did just seemed to be done for the sole purpose of pissing the other off. It was true that their personalities clashed almost dangerously, but they also fed off each other's energy. It was almost as if their arguments refueled them. It was sort of their way of ridding themselves of excess stress and, quite possibly, a way to diffuse the constant tension that always seemed to cause the air around them to crackle with something unmistakable and a bit too difficult for either of them to deal with. So they chose to ignore that crackle and keep on with the fighting, which was probably a relief since any other choice would undoubtedly have led to disaster. Although Casey had thought these things constantly, she never ceased to be amazed that she'd have such intense chemistry with _Derek Venturi _of all people. That was probably was freaked her out about it the most.

Ignoring these inescapable thoughts, she glared at him and said, "Der-ek, didn't your mother ever teach you to knock before entering someone else's bedroom?"

Seeing Derek's eyes flash with unmistakable anger at her mentioning his mother, she inwardly smirked, knowing she had just made a small victory and wanting to celebrate until he countered with a cool, "No, she didn't really care enough to, thank you. Besides, I didn't see you bothering to knock on my door last night. You just barged right in without knocking."

Casey hated it when he did that. She didn't like it when he pointed out her own hypocrisy and, of course, he never failed to do just that. It was like he knew just which buttons to push to get under her skin. The two of them knew each other and each other's weaknesses too well, which is probably why their fights tended to have that extra edge that put other's backs up when they saw it. It was certainly unusual for two people to know each other so well, especially too people who claimed to hate each other, but no one ever dared to point that out, fearing what their reactions would be. Knowing Casey and Derek, it would probably end in them debating whether or not one knew each other better than the other, which would probably get out of hand, and fast.

"Ugh. What do you want? You better have a good reason for interrupting me; I'm in the middle of something very important," Casey said in that prim way that always set Derek's teeth grinding and caused his hackles to raise. He hated how it always seemed like Casey thought she was better than him. Derek knew that Casey didn't try to consciously act like she was some sort of gift to human kind and that she would probably really hate to have that pointed out to her, since it would remind her of him. Which might have been why Derek didn't like that Casey had that sort of attitude; that was his forte. He was the kind of person that believed only in what you could do for him, not the other way around, and sometimes he recognized a bit of himself in Casey. It bothered him, for a reason he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Well, I actually didn't have a real reason," he admitted with a careless shrug before walking over to her perfectly made bed with its' pristine white sheets and promptly flopping down on it, causing the sheets to become untucked and rumpled and just slightly smudged in some places due to the various bits of something unidentifiable on his clothing. "I just like to piss you off."

Casey stared at him, her jaw hanging open and her breath coming out in short bursts. Her face was slowing reddening and Derek waited smugly for the blow up that was soon to come. She never could control her instinctive reaction to Derek's jibes and she knew that he'd done what he had on purpose, just to incite her ire. It was one of the many talents that Derek Venturi possessed but it definitely didn't impress Casey Mcdonald whatsoever.

"DER-EK. Get off my bed! Ugh, look at what you did! Now it's all dirty; I'll have to wash it before I can even go to bed. I said get off!" she shrieked, her voice reaching that shrill level that would cause even the heartiest of people to flinch back for fear of being injured simply by the sheer anger in her voice. Derek, however, didn't even blink. In fact, he just smirked at her some more and got comfortable on the bed, placing his hands behind his head.

"Nope. I don't want to. You should just be glad that I'm not wearing my shoes," he said mischievously, and laughed slightly at the obvious relief on Casey's face. She'd definitely seen the state that his favorite shoes were currently in from the hike that Sam and him had went on three days ago. They were caked in mud and he hadn't bothered to do anything but get most of the excess off so it wouldn't track across the floors at school. Even Derek didn't want to do anything that would draw _too _too much attention to him, since the atmosphere at school had been tense as well, although for completely different reasons. That, however, didn't matter one bit to Casey at the moment. All she wanted to do was get Derek off the bed and it was with that thought in mind that she advanced toward him where he laid on her bed. He watched her with one of his eyebrows raised, looking curious as to what she would do.

Derek wasn't prepared when Casey suddenly launched herself at him, landing solidly on top of him. Now, he was used to girls jumping him at random moments but he what he _wasn't _used to was his anal retentive step sister attacking him like this. So he just lay there like a bump on a log, not doing anything, as she started to try to shove him off the bed. If he were in the right frame of mind, he might have made a sarcastic, cutting remark about how it probably wasn't advantageous to her plan to be laying on top of him while trying to push him off a bed but he had quit thinking the second he noticed that she was practically straddling him and pressing against him in ways that had concocted strange images in his mind. This wasn't good; it wasn't good at all. There was no part in his plan to ruin Casey's perfect life that said that he had to become randomly turned on by his step sister perched on top of him.

"Casey, would you quit it? You're really making me uncomfortable, if you know what I mean," he said with feeling, the meaning unmistakable as he colored his words with innuendo that even prudish Casey would be unable to miss. Right on cue, her face colored and she stilled, staring down at him strangely. It was then that she noticed that his eyes were amazingly deep, taking in the goldish flecks splattered haphazardly about the dark chocolate brown. He was doing some looking of his own but it was significantly south of Casey's baby blues. Derek was thanking any and every deity out there that he could think of for creating tank tops when a voice from the doorway caused the both of them to jump into action, Casey to practically roll off Derek onto the other side of the bed and Derek to fall on the floor before hastily standing up.

"What are you doing, Smerek? I thought you were going to play with me," came the innocent voice of Derek's little sister, Marti, as she pouted at them from Casey's doorway.

"Uh, right. I was just asking Casey a question. Let's go Smarti. You don't want to catch onto Spacey's keener ways by being around her too much," he declared with a smirk in Casey's direction before scooping up his little sister and placing her on his shoulders, causing the little girl to giggle hysterically. Casey huffed, annoyed that she found Derek's way with little kids, particularly that one, adorable. It wasn't often a teenage boy could be roped into playing dress up and tea parties with imaginary animals and not complain…too loudly, anyway.

Rolling her eyes, she went back to what she had been doing before she was so rudely and needlessly interrupted, wished that she could do that with the past year of her life.

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><p>Word Count: 2111 words. Published: April 1, 2011, Friday.<p>

Author's Note: Hello there! If you look at my profile, I explain the background to the story and how I have set it up. I haven't watched Life with Derek in forever but I've recently watched the movie again and the original auditions for it and I've been reading Fanfiction, so I decided to give this a try. I have some ideas for the story and I would like to know if anyone would be interested in reading this before I invest anymore time into it than I already have. If you're looking for a story that follows the show perfectly, you won't find that here. I'm going to do what I want with it and with their lives. I don't know what happened to their families anymore so I've come up with my own idea. You'll just have to review so I'll be tempted to write the rest of it and then you'll find out what that is. =) Haha, yes I am devious. Thanks for noticing.


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